Konami's
new track & field game offers you the opportunity to compete in eleven
events. These events are the 100 meter dash, the hurdles, shotput, javelin,
swimming, hammer throw, high jump, pole vault, discus, long jump and the triple
jump. Each event is accomplished by hammering away at your poor undeserving
joypad. Talk about a workout! I've got blisters on my fingers... You can
also choose from multiple countries.

The
graphics are awesome! Picture Tekken style characters with sports outfits on
and you begin to get the idea. Movement is extremely smooth and realistic.
Everything just seems to flow along nicely. Multiple camera angles are used to
really get you into the game and instant replays are used for the best attempt
at each event. I would have to say that the polygon characters and backgrounds
are some of the best of have seen yet in a game. My one big complaint is this,
there is only a maximum of four players on the screen at one time. What
happened to the other four players that usually compete in the track events?
Very strange.

The
sound effects are perfect for this type of game. The announcers voice, starting
gunshots, footsteps as you run, the buzzers to start a jump are all nicely
reproduced and integrated nicely into this package. The music is okay and
appropriate for this style of game but does tend to get a bit redundant after a
while.

Well
now, this is kind of a two sided coin. When playing against the computer, there
is little to no challenge in this game and gets boring very quickly. The real
fun enters when you have a friend or three over and start to compete against
each other in the events. I was also a little disappointed in the events. I
would liked to have seen a few more events included such as archery,
weightlifting and the 400 meter to name a few... I guess you can't have
everything. The difficultly in getting off a good pole vault or hammer throw
does provide a bit of a learning curve in the beginning but is easily mastered.
Without at least one other player around, I'm afraid this game may sit on the
shelf and collect dust. There are some funny little things thrown in to show
that Konami doesn't take the game too seriously... Even spear a UFO with a
javelin? Ever trip over a gopher trying to make a long jump? You get the
picture.